AREA STUDIES ENGINEERING SCIENCES

USEFUL LINKS
IN FIGURES Aeronautics industry recruitment:
Sources : GIFAS - https://www.gifas.asso.fr
• France’s leading export sector
• 348 aeronautics companies
• 184,000 employees, 20% of whom are recent graduates (2014)
• €50,800 million in sales (2014) • €73,100 million in orders (2014)
INTERNATIONAL
France’s aeronautics and space industry is number one in Europe for the production
of civil and military airplanes and helicopters: Airbus, Falcon, Mirage, Rafale, Vulcain,
and more. The nation’s rocket engines are also renowned, as are its launching systems,
satellites, and the navigation systems used on Ariane rockets. The European Space
Agency (ESA) has its headquarters in Paris and liaison offices in Brussels, Moscow,
Washington, and Houston, as well as an office in the European space port in French
Guyana.
Initiated by France as early as 1950, international cooperative ventures have enabled
Europe to develop innovative and high-performance aeronautical equipment, such as
aircraft (A380, A350 XWB, A320neo, A400M, Ariane 5, Rafale, Falcon 7X, ATR 72), the
Tigre and NH90 helicopters, the CFM and Leap engines, the Meteor missile, the Helios
military observation satellite, the Sentinel family of environmental monitoring satellites,
and the Neuron, Sperwer, and Watchkeeper drones.
Aircraft builder Airbus is a consortium of European manufacturers that employs 55,000
people around the world. Headquartered in Blagnac, outside the southern French city of
Toulouse, Airbus makes more than half of the aircraft used by the world’s airlines and is
Boeing’s chief competitor. The A380 is the world’s largest passenger plane, carrying from
515 to 853 people.www.airbus.com
Founded in 1928, the Dassault aviation group is the last in the world still held by its
founder’s family and bearing the founder’s name. Dassault employs more than 12,000
people around the world, including 9,500 in France. Some 2,200 Dassault Falcons are in
operation; 1,000 Dassault planes are in military use. www.dassault-aviation.com
Safran designs and manufactures airplane and helicopter engines, rockets, and other
aeronautical and defense equipment. It employs more than 70,000 people in 50
countries. www.safran-group.com
The products and services of the Thales group ensure connectivity and communications
between air-traffic controllers, aircraft in flight, and the airlines’ operations centers. The
company produces cockpit electronics, onboard entertainment sytems, air-traffic control
systems, and cybersecurity systems. Thales also provides maintenance services.
www.thalesgroup.com
Aéroports de Paris, Europe’s second-largest airport system, welcomed 92.7 million
passengers to Paris in 2015. The company manages 34 airports throughout the world.
www.aeroportsdeparis.fr
RELATED FIELDS
• Aviation • Defense • Manufacturing • Telecommunications • Tourism • Transportation
SUBFIELDS
www.aeroemploiformation.com
Aeronautics and Space Institute:
https://www.inst-aero-spatial.org
Aerospace Valley: www.aerospace-valley.com
AIREMPLOI, careers in aviation: www.airemploi.org
Boost Aerospace: www.boostaerospace.com
CNES, National Space Studies Center: https://cnes.fr
CORAC, Civil Aeronautics Research Council:
http://aerorecherchecorac.com
ENAC, National School of Civil Aviation: www.enac.fr
ESTACA, Higher School of Aeronautics and Automobile
Construction: www.estaca.fr
ESA, European Space Agency: www.esa.int/ESA
European COPERNICUS Program: https://copernicus.cnes.fr
GIFAS, European Aeronautics and Space Industries Group:
https://www.gifas.asso.fr
Hanvol, aviation career training and placement for the disabled:
www.hanvol-insertion.aero
International Aeronautics and Space Show, Paris Le Bourget:
https://www.siae.fr
ISAE-SUPAERO, Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space:
https://www.isae.fr
IPSA, School of Air and Space Engineering: www.ipsa.fr
NAFAN, North American French Aerospace Network:
www.nafan-aerospace.com
ONERA, French Center for Aerospace Research: www.onera.fr
SIAE-ENSMA, National School of Mechanics and Aerotechnics:
https://www.ensma.fr
AERONAUTICS
AEROSPACE
France is the world’s second-largest exporter of
aeronautics (after the United States and ahead of
Germany); in Europe, it plays a pivotal role in aeronautical
assembly. Flagship programs have earned the nation’s
aeronautics industry world-class status. These include
the Ariane rocket (the generic designation for a family
of European satellite launch vehicles), the Airbus A380
consortium, and the Rafale fighter aircraft.
A sector of excellence, the French aerospace industry
comprises several subsectors: passenger aircraft,
combat and special- purpose aircraft, helicopters,
launchers, satellites, and missiles. The complementary
supply chains for these subsectors embrace all of the
know-how needed to mount and sustain a civil or military
manufacturing program.
Based in Toulouse, France’s Aerospace Valley is
Europe’s largest center of employment in the field of
aeronautics and aerospace. The nation’s aeronautics and
space industry is one of the few manufacturing sectors in
which employment has grown and where high-quality jobs
predominate—nearly 40% of the workforce consists of
engineers and managers. Demand for skilled employees
(technicians, welders, metalworkers) is so great that the
sector has trouble meeting it.
The French postsecondary system provides training
for aeronautics and aerospace occupations at all levels,
from vocational certificates offered in secondary schools
to post-Master programs. Programs are taught either in
French or in English.

October 2018
• Aircraft manufacturing • Airports • Civil and military aviation • Embedded systems
• Helicopters • Information systems • Radar •Rocketry • Satellites • Space • Travel

CHOOSE YOUR PROGRAM

www.campusfrance.org
>STUDENTS >STUDYING
>PROGRAMS

DOMAINE_AERONAUTIQUE_EN.indd 1 18/10/2018 11:10

 AREA STUDIES ENGINEERING SCIENCES
AERONAUTICS – AEROSPACE
LICENCE (BACHELOR)
LEVEL
MENTION COMPLÉMENTAIRE (MC)
(BACCALAURÉAT + 1 YEAR OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – L1
The MC in aeronautics is offered at education and training centers in a dozen
French cities. Three options are available: avionics, turbine-engine airplanes,
and turbine-engine helicopters.
BREVET DE TECHNICIEN SUPÉRIEUR (BTS)
(BACCALAURÉAT + 2 YEARS OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – L2
The BTS in aeronautics is offered in public and private high schools and
training centers in a dozen French cities.
INSTITUTION-SPECIFIC DIPLOMA
(BACCALAURÉAT + 2 YEARS OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – L2
A diploma recognizing the recipient as a civil aviation technician is offered by
ENAC, the National School of Civil Aviation. Recipients are future runway crew
leaders, refueling managers, and air-traffic controllers, among other functions.
www.enac.fr
LICENCE PROFESSIONNELLE
(L2 + 1 YEAR OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – L3
A licence professionnelle is awarded in science and technology with
majors and specializations in aeronautics (maintenance of multi-technical
aeronautical systems).
Students majoring in networks and telecommunications may elect a
specialization in integration of embedded aeronautical systems, while
electricity and electronics majors have the option to specialize in aeronautical
and space electronics. The major in manufacturing offers a specialization in
aeronautics (aeronautical design and production).
BACHELOR
(BACCALAURÉAT + 3 YEARS OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – L3
This bachelor’s degree from the Toulouse Business School is part of the
aviation management track offered in partnership with ENAC:
www. tbs-education.fr/fr/formations/bachelor/programme/filiere-
aviation- management
DOMAINE_AERONAUTIQUE_EN.indd 2
MASTER
LEVEL
DIPLÔME INTERUNIVERSITAIRE (DIU)
(BACCALAURÉAT + 5 YEARS OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – M1
In partnership with the University of Cincinnati, the University of Bordeaux
proposes a DIU in Aero-System Operations. The program, taught in English,
allows students to earn a Master of Engineering from the University of
Cincinnati: http://ceas.uc.edu/aesop/about.html
MASTER
(BACCALAURÉAT + 5 YEARS OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – M2
Several relevant concentrations and specializations are possible in master’s
programs in science, technology, and health:
• Concentration in aeronautical maintenance;
• Concentration in materials (specialization in aeronautics and space
structures);
• Concentration in mechanics, physics, and engineering (specialization in
aeronautics and space);
• Concentration in physics and astrophysics (specialization in aeronautics and
space).
The engineering school at the University of Bordeaux offers a master’s in
engineering and maintenance of aeronautics and transportation systems.
In schools of engineering, several pertinent specializations are possible
in programs leading to a master, the national engineering diploma, or the
equivalent:
• Engineering and maintenance of aeronautics and transportation systems;
• Engineering of electronic air safety systems;
• Air-traffic management and control;
• Aeronautics and space mechanics;
• Air and ground transportation.
Programs taught in English include:
- Master of Science in Aeronautics and Space:
www.ec-lyon.fr/en/academics/master-programs/international-master-
programs/masters-aeronautics-space
- Master of Science in Aeronautical and Space Systems:
https://www.isae-supaero.fr/en/academics/masters/isae-supaero-master-
s-program/
- Master of Science in Aeronautical Mechanics and Energetics:
https://www.isae-supaero.fr/fr/formations/masters/l-offre-de-masters/
DIPLÔME/TITRE D’INGÉNIEUR – EQUIVALENT TO MASTER
(BACCALAURÉAT +5 YEARS OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY) – M2
France’s schools of engineering deliver diplomas accredited by CTI, the
commission on engineering degrees:
CNAM, the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, specialization in
aeronautics and space, in partnership with ISAE-ENSMA and AEROTEAM:
www.cnam-poitou-charentes.fr/site/formation/ingenieur_aeronautique
ENAC, the National School of Civil Aviation:
www.enac.fr/fr/ingenieur-enac
ISAE-ENSMA, the National School of Mechanics and Aerotechnics,
focuses on air and ground transportation: www.isae-ensma.fr
ESTACA, the Higher School of Aeronautics and Automobile Contruction,
enables students to acquire multidisciplinary competence in engineering,
with a focus on transportation: www.estaca.fr
ISAE-SUPAERO, the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space:
https://www.isae.fr
POST-MASTER LEVEL
MASTÈRE SPÉCIALISÉ
(MASTER + 1 YEAR OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY)
About 20 Mastères Spécialisés—specialized post-master programs ac-
credited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles and offered in schools
of engineering such as ENSAM, ENSEIRB-MATMECA, and ISAE—allow
students to acquire new or complementary expertise in aeronautical and
aerospace engineering.
A dozen such programs are taught in English:
• Aircraft and helicopter engineering; Air operations and maintenance; Ae-
rospace project management; Embedded systems; Experimental flight;
Maintenance and support; Processes for aeronautical structures; Safety
aircraft; Space communication systems.
Other Mastères Spécialisés programs include:
• Management of aeronautical industry projects; Aeronautics and space
structures; Embedded lighting systems; Aerospace propulsion systems;
Aeronautics and space communications and networks.
Information on the Mastère Spécialisé diploma:
Www.campusfrance.org >Resources center>Educational and Research
programs>Degree description>Mastères spécialisés
18/10/2018 11:10